Hundjäger

Hundjäger

David Galster

Copyright 2007 David Galster

Smashwords Edition

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I German Kommandos

Halt! Hauptmann Schmiss shouts while pointing a G3 rifle straight at the skinny middle-eastern man. The man, dressed in a traditional shalwar kameez tunic, reacts in a startled manner and turns and runs.

KAPOW! A shot hits the fugitive. After hobbling a few more meters, he finally drops down on the rocky trail, clutching his bleeding leg.

Benno, quick, give him some help, Schmiss yells. Feldwebel Feif moves forward and approaches the man, with his P8 Heckler & Koch pistol pointing straight at him."

Don’t shoot, the man yells in Arabic as he moans in pain.

Feldwebel Feif approaches slowly then Helmut Kloppmman and I join the encounter. Feif opens his medical kit and tries to stop the bleeding. We search him and find his papers.

Herr Hauptmann, I yell. Here is his papers. He is Midhat Mursi al-Sayid Umar!

Ja, very good, Schmiss replies. Our team leader pulls a little book from his rucksack and flips through several pages. Aha! He is the Al Kaida weapons expert. This is going to be an interesting prisoner to interrogate!

Wow that is quite an episode isn’t it? It came from an encrypted email from my German friend, Konrad Zahlenschieber. You see, he is a commando on the hunt for Bin Laden in Pakistan. We have been friends ever since we met at Darmstadt University back in 2003. He has been in Pakistan for a couple of months now, since November 2008 and has been keeping me up to date.

By the way, my name is Dan Gladstone. I’m a mechanical engineering professor at the High Pressure Academy in Cranston, Iowa. When I am not teaching classes, I research topics in stress analysis and other aspects of high pressure equipment. I am very lucky to know Konrad, who has provided me with lots of exciting stories about his adventures in Pakistan.

In September 2003, at the Darmstadt high-pressure conference, I encountered Konrad by chance in the cafeteria. He had an electrical engineering book and I commented on it. We began discussing that and other engineering topics and I learned that he was really a soldier in one of the German mountain infantry units, Gebirgsjägerbataillon 232. His electrical engineering course was a temporary assignment.

Konrad’s military service sounded exciting and so I became interested in his experiences. The Gebirgsjägerbataillon 232 is located in Bischofswiesen, Germany. Their barracks is near the Austrian Alps in a picturesque setting. The two story building has old German-style architecture, and has a round bell tower with a conical roof at one end, and is beautifully framed by the snow-capped mountains in the background.

Since that time Konrad has become part of German special forces, the Kommando Spezialkräfte, or KSK. They are similar to the US Army Green Beret. Currently he is on a tour in Pakistan. Their mission: Find Usama Bin Laden.

The four-man Jagdkommando team is codenamed ‘Hundjäger.’ They are part of the 4th platoon of the 1st Kommando Kompanie. In the KSK organization, the 4th platoon handles mountain and arctic missions. Naturally, they try to obtain soldiers with experience in the mountain or Gebirgsjäger units, like Konrad.

Konrad and I have been corresponding via email ever since we met. He tells me about his adventures and I try to explain what I understand about current events to him. We talk some about engineering, but mostly about the War on Terror.

When KSK assigned Team Hundjäger its current mission, we had to be more careful about our emails, since it was a secret mission. I had no access to his military encryption software, nor could he provide it. As a history aficionado, I had read books about the German Enigma code of WWII. One day while I was cruising the Internet, I searched for more information. One website offered a free simulation software for the Enigma code. After downloading and trying it out, I got the idea that we could use that for encryption. I gave him the web address, and he downloaded the program on his laptop.

The German Enigma code was an electric machine with three active rotors and two extras, each different. Each time a key is tapped, a rotor indexes. After it turns a full revolution, the next wheel indexes one space, similar to an automobile odometer. The different wheel positions route electric current from one letter, to a different letter. There is also a plug-board that switches letters.

The rotors have what is known as a Ringstellung, or ring position. This alters the input and output letters of that individual wheel. When an operator begins to encode the message, he starts with the wheels in the Grundstellung, or basic position, known only to him and his reciever. In WWII, the Germans took it one step further. The first three letters of the message were a three letter ‘message key.’ The operator would place the wheels in the Grundstellung, then type the message key. The three encoded letters would form a new wheel position. He sets the wheels to that position and then types the message. Of course, the output is encrypted.

The software was designed to simulate this and it even had graphics that showed the box and the keyboard. By mouseclicking certain latches, you could open the box and change the wheels or change plugboard settings.

Konrad and I agreed on the wheel selection, Grundstellung, ring settings, and plug board settings beforehand. Then we only had to include the message key as the first three letters of our messages. One final note: the encrypted letters are spaced in groups of five.

Using the Enigma code, Konrad was confident that he could share his adventures with me without compromising mission secrecy. I am glad our friendship through email correspondence allowed me to gain his trust that I could keep a secret.

Here is the encrypted text of his latest message:

NFYAK XUSFP TXHLY RTGIB MIACH GIDLX ZAOOV GRSJT NPDIU XAZMM ZDVNC NRYZX VJYFH GLIYB YKMYP HLTBA MAENX UEDPX QSBPT DJXDT KQIPV ADOVC THEQN VVOLH FFDYU MNXXD HOAIK EHANI CTBDR RFYDO FJETU CENQX ATKGK IREBC CPAPT LELUS GJUYY ELMBA ZLJZW UFUXI ETXTO OBWIG TVFZY YNTDM OGVJG NYCGD GSNOQ RLYPS HJMVJ JQSYU CTBQZ XGZGL JIFDA CRHBD DYAAN SWKOI KOEZA VJXFV FMRCL ICJKQ WPMDW JEOXR HRUVH KZSUA WPEVG NFXRI WZVTT LTRNN UUCYQ XXKHK BIPXN RXWEX ZYARU ALLPH AQHEY UGHWG INJXW DPUJZ VRZMU DHEZE VSXWH CBTZJ GBOJA EAQVX TMAIS BPDGO BHFOK PTZVZ PGVQY SCPDM DFSPH NHIUL PYQYC TLZMK WDRBZ KXNWB JMHMS BWWAY XOEZG PCTBT XMDCJ MWOGV ATVHD ZKMTM UOOQE KLEBN RHLPN ILEAP VKUKZ ZGOBR VSTMQ MTENX ODIPM SXTDB QPRZT XSUQU BYAAS AHDUM BUZUM VCYJE ZQBFZ SVDXZ FDHKV ORQHB NOZDG PVPIY BLPSF MPXJT IEKNC PCQJX FGZZK NTFXH TPLSB BQWVZ HWCNF LIGQT BEHID VAAVG DFNPD NXKAG IGTMA WYCZT VAPOB JEHCV YPPFD ZGGZN USXXX KTVSX PTUDW FBHAB HHSXP KWAXF FVHMI LPHJM AJHGR MCDDS

II Misfire at the Graf-Zeppelin Barracks

The Feldwebel’s bony hands tremble as he loads his newly acquired H&K P8 pistol.

Be careful with that thing! the armory attendant yells.

A round chambers inadvertently as the NCO shrugs, Don’t worry; I am a real expert at handling these babies. Suddenly, his fingers slip and the 9mm pistol escapes his grip. He tries to grab it as it plunges downward. POW!!! the gun goes off, and the bullet ricochets a couple of times, narrowly missing the attendant.

Mein Gott! the attendant screamed. Verdammt Dummkopf!

The Feldwebel’s eyes bugged out. Oh no! he exclaims. Oh, now I am in big trouble. This is just horrible!

The supply Leutnant runs in. Who fired that shot? he demands.

The Feldwebel sheepishly looked up at the Leutnant, then shook his head; and then looked down at the pistol, lying at his feet. I am very sorry, Herr Leutnant.

Better be more careful next time, Soldat! the Leutnant replied. Are you sure you are authorized to have this weapon?

Hands shaking, the Feldwebel reaches into his wallet and pulls out his papers. He shows the ‘equipment issued’ page to the Leutnant. Momentarily, he regains confidence. Right here Herr Leutnant. I have full KSK authorization to carry a P8 pistol as prescribed by Bundeswehr regulations.

The Leutnant examines it and asks, Are you Feldwebel Bernard P. Feif?

Ja, Herr Leutnant, Feldwebel Feif replies, standing proudly.

Very well, the Leutnant said. Dismissed.

Later, in the KSK Commanding Officers office: Herein kommen, General Reinhard Gunzel’s orders. Feldwebel Feif walks in and sits down. The two men start some small talk. Finally, General Gunzel says, Well, your experience in Gebirgsjägerbataillon 231 will certainly come in handy with your new assignment.

Feldwebel Feif stretches out his arms, with hands clasped. His face assumes a smug expression and he sighs, Well, you know I have some real fond memories training with the reconnaissance team while crossing the Blaueisgletscher. (Blue Ice Glacier.)

Gunzel chuckles then replies, I wish you luck with KSK. And please: Be more careful with that Heckler & Koch...

Well, this is another amusing story from Konrad. He likes to write funny stories about his fellow Jagdkommandos in Hundjäger. I guess Feldwebel Feif is quite a stumbling fellow. They call him ‘Benno’ which is a derivative of ‘Bernhard.’

This was in the beginning of his service with KSK, when